Such chassis parts are generally known. Reference is made as an example to the documents DE 41 20 772 C2, DE 33 32 771 C2 and DE 199 31 079 A1.
The above-mentioned documents pertain to force-transmitting chassis parts, which comprise essentially an elongated basic body and mount supports arranged at the end with mounts. Even though the mount supports and mounts are made in these cases of composite materials, i.e., a combination of metals and plastic components, the elongated basic body consistently consists of metal.
It was found in the course of the development that the chassis parts, whose basic body is made mostly from forged steel or gray cast iron, do not meet the increased requirements concerning the characteristics of the materials, and the possibilities are also exhausted concerning weight reduction in the case of all-metal basic bodies.
An all-plastic basic body is sometimes also used instead of an all-metal basic body to optimize the weight, but such chassis parts made of plastic inherently have the problem that these plastics usually tend to undergo brittle fracture if they have the sufficient strength properties. This means that the function of these chassis parts is lost 100% after damage to such a chassis part, whereas a complete loss of function does not occur in the case of chassis parts made of metal, even though bending and deformation develop.
Even though composite materials based on sheet metal-plastic combinations in the manufacture of automobiles have been known from the literature, e.g., from the Offenlegungsschrift DE 38 39 855 A1, the applications proposed there are structural parts for motor vehicle doors, shock absorbers, supports, front and rear shells or door sills, in which the sheet metal parts which determine the outer shape are said to have increased strength or rigidity due to plastic ribbing. None of these lightweight components proposed is, however, suitable for absorbing massive compressive/tensile forces as they occur in chassis parts.